An Example to His Momma

It was a hectic night... too hectic... too full. When Mark came home from work, we quickly hopped in the van to run errands and eat on the way. I don't like nights like this... the lack of schedule, the normal tasks that go undone, the lack of face-to-face time with my family as we sit in line in our Toyota Sienna.

We came home just in time to run a rag over the faces of my littlest kids and herd them into bed. As we hurried to get this done, Noah declared that he was going to take a few minutes to go outside and fly his "bat". A few months ago, Noah was given a remote controlled bat that has quickly become his favorite toy... it flies and dips and turns and he has gotten really good at making it fly just the way he wants. The hard part about playing with the bat is that because it is so light, the weather conditions must be just right to fly it at all. And at the end of our busy night, the weather was perfect.

As Mark and I took care of the details of ending our day, Noah kept coming in and saying, "Please momma, come see!" but having seen the RC bat fly more times than I could count, that request fell to the bottom of a long list of day-end-to-dos. The sun had set and whatever work left from today would have to be added to tomorrow's list.

Finally, I came downstairs and there stood Noah, anxiously awaiting a few moments of my time. What surprised me most is that the bat sat in it's original spot on the book case. What had he been doing if not flying his bat?

"Come on, momma, come on! You have to see!" he said. He took my hand and pulled me toward the screen door.

It was dark outside... really dark. We love this about our area. Though we live just 40 minutes outside of Chicago, we are so surrounded by our beloved woods that when night falls, we find that the glare of the city is hidden and we can see the stars.

Out I stepped into the dark of the yard. The smell of green and the warm summer air surrounded me. The door closed behind me and then my 11 year old wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Look, momma, look!" and then he whispered... "Isn't it beautiful?"

I slowed down then and I took the time to look. Every inch of my backyard glistened... little yellow lights flashing on and off like diamonds floating on the summer breeze. Fireflies. Millions and millions of fireflies.

Noah stood perfectly still and I heard him sigh a deep contented sigh. We stood in the yard, my boy and I, arms around each other staring at the incredible sight before us.

I almost missed it, I did. I almost tasked myself past what Noah saw and wanted to share. I almost got so lost in the scrubbing of faces and elimination of items on a list that I would have rushed right past the thing that was most important.

It was only a minute. But I think it might have been my favorite minute of the whole summer long.